Abbott Laboratories Says Pharma Chief To Retire

NEW YORK -- Medical device and drug developer Abbott
Laboratories said Thursday Olivier Bohuon, executive vice president
of pharmaceutical products, will retire from the company.

The North Chicago company said Bohuon, 51, will shortly announce
his plans to accept another opportunity.

Richard A. Gonzalez, who retired as president and chief
operating officer of Abbott in 2007, succeeds Bohuon on an interim
basis. Gonzalez has been leading Abbott Ventures Inc., an
investment arm of the company, since 2009.

Abbott’s pharmaceutical unit is the key revenue driver for
the company. During the first quarter, the unit brought in $4.1
billion in sales, or more than half of all sales during the period.
Sales of the biotech drug Humira, an injection for inflammatory
diseases, rose more than 36 percent to $1.4 billion.

Other products in the pharmaceutical unit include the
cholesterol drugs Tricor and Trilipix, which brought in $291
million in sales, while the cholesterol drug Niaspan had sales of
$205 million. The HIV drug Kaletra had sales of $292 million.

The company has been trying to diversify its products through a
series of buyouts and other deals. Humira, the key moneymaker,
loses patent protection in 2017.

Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical unit is developing a range of
drugs aimed at diseases including cancer and hepatitis C.

The cancer drug pipeline includes potential treatments ABT-263
and ABT-888. The company has said that its $450 million buyout of
Facet Biotech Corp. adds a range of cancer drug collaborations,
including early to midstage compounds.

That deal also gave the company a potential multiple sclerosis
drug, now in late-stage development.

Abbott also has a potential treatment for chronic pain in
early-stage development, along with three potential hepatitis C
drugs in midstage development.

In February, Abbott completed the $6.2 billion buyout of
Solvay’s pharmaceutical business, helping the company to
expand internationally while gaining a range of hormone therapies
and vaccines, though it is considering selling the vaccines
unit.

Elsewhere, a collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. is
focusing on Elagolix, now in midstage development. It is aimed at
treating pain associated with the gynecological condition
endometriosis and as a potential treatment for uterine fibroids, or
benign tumors in the uterus.